EU targets Russia’s nuclear industry

Kyiv The West has imposed sanctions on imports of oil, gas and coal from Russia – either banning them or putting a price cap on them. Only uranium, fuel rods and nuclear technology may be imported unhindered. That is set to change: the EU is preparing its tenth package of sanctions against Russia, and this time it could also explicitly involve punitive measures against the country’s powerful nuclear industry.

The initiative comes late, because the European Parliament had already called for “an immediate, complete embargo on Russian imports of oil, coal, nuclear fuel and gas” in the spring of last year. At the time, it was said that “the cooperation with Russian companies in existing and new nuclear projects should be ended”.

Once again, it is Ukraine itself that is increasing the pressure on Brussels. President Volodymyr Zelensky decreed sanctions against Russia’s nuclear industry on Sunday and called on the West to also focus on this important Russian economic sector.